Gail Helmer's Social Media and Web Marketing Blog » Business

Is the Future of Publishing Dead?

Gail Helmer — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 16:18:12 +0000

If you are at all concerned with the future of publishing, or think that books are a thing of the past, then you need to watch this video. If you enjoy great copywriting or clever viral videos, then this video is definitely for you.

Feature Interview Wild Web Woman

Gail Helmer — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 13:13:37 +0000

I recently had the great pleasure of being interviewed and featured as a Wild Web Woman at Web Marketing Therapy.

The Wild Web Women at Web Marketing Therapy are always thrilled to connect with like-minded and brilliant women in business and introduce them to you! We had the pleasure of chatting with Gail Helmer, who seeks to simplify the Wild Web’s social media secrets and helps companies integrate social media into their business. With almost 20 years as a marketing professional, she lives and breathes the internet! We had a blast finding out what inspires Gail, as well as what brand of shoes make her feel at her best and that she shares the WMT Wild Web Women’s obsession with Lululemon yoga pants!

You can read the full interview at the Web Marketing Therapy Blog. Thank you to Lorrie Thomas, Sarah Caminker, Kelly Kohen, and all the great women at Web Marketing Therapy.

Time Saving Social Media Tip: Hootsuite Integrates WordPress

Gail Helmer — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 23:30:32 +0000

Saving valuable time with your social media program has become essential. That is why I think this is one of the most exciting announcements that I have heard in a long time and it comes from the recent winner of Mashable’s 2009 Open Web Award for Best Twitter App.

Hootsuite has announced the integration of WordPress. Now you can cross post content between Hootsuite and your WordPress blog. As with Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, you can schedule and cross-post content to multiple WordPress accounts.

WordPress.com is the first blog platform officially supported by HootSuite, with support for self-hosted WordPress blogs coming soon. My blog is self-hosted so I am unable to test this new feature out which makes me sad and very anxious for the chance to use it.

As you will see in the video set up is simple and hassle-free. I have set up my Twitter, Facebook and Linked-in accounts using the same interface and it is remarkably quick and simple procedure.

If you are not a current user of Hootsuite then consider these other impressive features:

- Multiple Twitter Accounts
- Schedule Tweets
- RSS/Atom Feeds
- Add your LinkedIn accounts
- Add your Facebook and Fan Page accounts
- Add your Ping.fm account
- Preview links, video and photos in your Twitter stream
- Hootsuite iphone App

Hootsuite is a free, web-based platform with no need to download and install the application. You can get started at www.hootsuite.com

If you do try out the WordPress feature let me know I would love to here your thoughts.

Top 3 Twitter Tips for Business

Gail Helmer — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 19:40:38 +0000

Don’t take my word for it. Guy Kawasaki shares his top three Twitter tips.

Top 3 Twitter Tips for Business:

1) Always be informing instead of meforming. Ensure your tweets are providing links that are informational, resourceful, and provide tips on other things.

2) Always reply to mentions, retweets, and direct messages from others. Guy considers it a moral obligation to respond to others.

3) The real goal to Twitter is to get retweeted. Guys says that, “Retweeting is the sincerest form of flattery. People are risking their reputation when the retweet you.”

Has “meforming” made its way into Websters dictionary yet? My definiton of meforming: The process of broadcasting every excruciating detail of your personal life on Twitter.

Looking for a Great Business Book

If you are not familiar with Guy Kawasaki, then I recommend you follow him on Twitter @guykawasaki. I also highly recommend his new book “Reality Check: The Irreverent Guide to Outsmarting, Outmanaging, and Outmarketing Your Competition.” I find it an absolute must resource for entrepreneurs, small business owners and solopreneurs. After reading this book my business partner and I have nicknamed him “God” Kawasaki for his down-to-earth, informative and guiding-hand business style.

‘Tis the Season for Social Media and Holiday Shopping

Gail Helmer — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:27:51 +0000

Do you have your customer incentive programs all set for Christmas? Are your landing pages in place? Then start sharing the savings on social media. According to a recent study by Neilsen, 60 percent of shoppers will be looking for discounts and sales this holiday season. 17 percent will be looking for specials and deals through social media.

“Consumers are trying to find any way possible to find value and being connected via social media is a new way to find these deals and the values of the season,” said Stacy Janiak, vice chairman and Deloitte’s U.S. retail leader.

Promote your customer incentives by posting on your Facebook and Twitter pages, as well as in your e-mail newsletters. Think creatively this holiday season to strengthen and foster relationships with your customers. The objective is to offer helpful solutions to alleviate your customers shopping anxiety. The social media incentive program works effectively for both your online and offline stores.

Top 4 effective consumer incentives to spur customer action and increase your overall revenue and profits:

1) BOGO – The buy-one-get-one free offer. An excellent sales promotion and an offer a bargain hunter can not pass up. The stipulation is the free item is of equal or lesser value then the purchased item. With this promotion the sales is increased when the consumer spends more to recieve the free item.

2) Gift with Purchase – This offer encourages the consumer to purchase items, in order to receive a free gift. The cosmetic industry has been successfully using this method for years. The value of the free gift is up to you, but it must be something people will desire. The cosmetic industry gives away a cosmetic bag with the purchase of $50 or more.

3) Discount Coupons – When implemented strategically coupons can not only increase revenues, but will provide lasting goodwill with your customers. Set a threshhold of $50 to $100 dollars to receive a discount of 15% or more. Remember the objective is encourage customers to spend more to save more.

4) Bundling – If you have inventory you would like to clear out, or have a new product that you want consumers to know about then consider creating a bundled gift package. You can increase the price overall and offer a unique gift idea.

Social media tips for promoting your incentives without looking like a spammer.

1) Craft your messages into 140 characters or less:
2) Include a “please retweet” or “send to a friend” in your message to encourage viral sharing.
3) Include a link to your website landing page with more details on the promotion. Make it handy for your customers to make a printout of your promotion that they can bring into your store.
4) Include promotion incentives during the online checkout process as a last minute impulse buy.

I encourage you to use social media this holiday season, not only will your customers appreciate the savings, I can guarantee you will have an advantage over your competitors.

Source: With Social Media, Who Needs Santa?.

The Ultimate Guide to Creating Social Media Press Releases

Gail Helmer — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:32:14 +0000

Are you still using the traditional press release?

It goes without saying that social media has transformed the way we communicate, why not include your public relations strategy in the transformation.

“Be prepared to alter the way you think about press releases.” David Meerman Scott

The Social Media Release (SMR) enables 2-way conversation and takes advantage of social media, multimedia, and search engine optimization (SEO).

Web 2.0 changed the rules for press releases. Let us consider what PR 2.0 has to offer:

1) Gain broader exposure – Leverage your press release, not only will it reach traditional journalists and publishers, but your company’s story will reach bloggers and your buyers directly.

2) Tell your story – Brian Solis has said, “A Social Media Release should contain everything necessary to share and discover a story in a way that is complementary to your original intent; but, the difference is, how they find it and the tools they use to share and broadcast.”

3) Search Engine Optimized – Optimize your release with keyword rich and relevant content that search engines love. Not only is your social media release search engine friendly, but by creating great content it becomes people friendly and that will encourage sharing and conversation.

4) Browsers to Buyers – Integrated links encouraging visits back to your website is the ultimate success report card. Driving qualified traffic directly to a free trial, downloadable white paper or a landing page sends them directly into your sales process.

Getting Started: Video Overview of the Social Media Press Release

Here are some exceptionally helpful tools to keep you focused and on target:

Whether you use traditional or a social media press release there is no excuse for poorly written, irrelevant and untargeted press releases.

The Definitive Social Media Release Template

PRWeb’s: Quick Guide to Writing Your First Online Press Release

How to Write Compelling Social Media Releases Template

CNW Groups: Benefits of Engaging Traditional Media and Social Media

Top 5 Online News Wire Services

BusinessWire
PRWeb
PRNewswire
Market Wire
CNW Group Canada

5 Free Online Press Release Services

PR.Com
Press Release Point
Newswire Today
Wire Service Canada
National PR Wire

Top 2 Online Tools for Creating Your Own Social Media Press Release

Pitch Engine is not another wire service. It’s a social platform that enables PR to effectively package stories and share them with journalists, bloggers, and influencers worldwide via the social web.

PRX Builder allows anyone to create an online press release. PRX Builder is a simple wizard that walks you through each step. Write your content, insert links, add images and video.

Top 4 PR 2.0 Book Recommendations

If you are an avid reader like I am, or enjoy having the best resources, then consider adding these to your bookshelf – after you read them of course.

The New Rules of Marketing and PR: How to Use News Releases, Blogs, Podcasting, Viral Marketing and Online Media to Reach Buyers Directly by David Meerman Scott

Putting the Public Back in Public Relations: How Social Media Is Reinventing the Aging Business of PR by Brian Solis

PR 2.0: New Media, New Tools, New Audiences by Deirdre Breakenridge

Guerrilla P.R. 2.0: Wage an Effective Publicity Campaign without Going Broke by Michael Levine

What are your thoughts? Do you have additional links or information I can include in this guide? Please leave a comment or connect with me on Twitter.

Social Media Demystified

Gail Helmer — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 19:29:59 +0000

It is said that 35% of businesses don’t know how they might use social media.

The question I get most often is, “What is social media and how do I use it?” It is true that social media has become the hot topic for businesses. While everyone stampedes their way to the various places like Twitter and Facebook, you and I are going to be more strategic. First, let’s understand the term Social Media. The question asked should be, “What are social media?”, because social media is plural. There there are many components of social media just like there are many traditional media, as shown in this social media sphere visual from Brian Solis and Jess3.

The commonality between traditional media and social media, is of course media. Media is the method of communicating using text, images, and sound. In traditional media you know them as print, tv, and radio. Unlike traditional media which is one-way communication or one message to many. Social media is having a two-way conversation, through the sharing of text, images, and sound.

What has changed is that insteading of selling, pitching, shouting at our customers through advertising, we are having a conversation. Social Media is engaging, connecting and building relationships with our audience through our websites by simply creating content using text, images and sound.

Now when you think about social media, like Twitter and Facebook, instead of being confused by the technology, you can think about how you can connect and engage by sharing text, images, sound. You will see that everyone is sharing their blogs, videos and photos and having conversations about them.

To demonstrate the sharing of text, images and sound, is this blog you are reading, the photo at the top on the many social media components and this video. I love this video, it is an excellent commentary on traditional media vs social media. I think also it brilliantly demystifies social media.

What do you think? Feel free to leave a comment below or talk to me on Twitter!

How To Use Social Media In Your Presentations

Gail Helmer — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 17:18:10 +0000

Source: SAP Web 2.0

I participated in a webinar this past week, the topic was “Managing Social Media Campaigns”. Before the speakers began the moderator conducted a poll of the audience. The question was “What is the current social media usage in your business.” The audience was given a multiple choice answer like this;

a) not at all
b) some social media
c) using 3 or more social media tools

Now I had never seen a moderator conduct a poll before a presentation, but what was unusual was that the audience was asked to use Twitter to provide their responses. Using the hashtag #thiswebinar, the audience then tweeted their answers. Using the powerpoint presentation, the moderator could instantly gauge the audiences experience and share with the speakers. The information was then gathered and displayed within the presentation so that everyone could see the results of the poll.

This was a webinar presentation unlike anything I had ever experienced before. Are we not used to a one-sided presentation, the speaker talks and everyone listens? No engagement, no connection.

The integration of social media turned the presentation automatically into a conversation. Taking a poll at the start of the presentation was great information for the speakers to know their audience. It also set the tone of the presentation by involving the audience, and fostering particiaption.

Fostering participation has always been a challenge in a traditional presentation. Not in this presentation. The audience were also encouraged to tweet their questions for the speakers. The questions then formed the Q&A period, which was lively and conversational. There was no waiting, or the awkward silence when no one in the audience speaks.

This was one of the most interactive and engaging webinars I have ever been a part of. The speakers really enjoyed it, especially in the webinar environment when you do not see your audience, and the audience had fun with tweeting and they became very engaged.

Do you want to make your presentations more interactive? Looking for a way to include social media tools that move your one-way presentation into a two-way conversation? Now you can have the Web 2.0 experience in your PowerPoint presentations. SAP has created a PowerPoint Twitter Tool that embeds directly within your presentations real-time tweets from your audience. The tweets display either as a ticker or refreshable comment page. Now your Q&A period becomes engaging and conversational. The PowerPoint Twitter Tools offers six Twitter elements:

- PowerPoint Twitter feedback slide
- PowerPoint Twitter ticker bar
- PowerPoint Twitter update bar
- PowerPoint Twitter voting — bar charts and pie chart
- PowerPoint Mood meter
- PowerPoint Crowd meter

This FREE PowerPoint Twitter Tool requires only PowerPoint for Windows and Adobe Flash to run.

You can get details, see more screenshots, and get the download to try out the tool by heading over to the blog SAP Web 2.0.

Social Media and Why You Should Care

Gail Helmer — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 16:31:33 +0000

The world of Web 2.0 and Social Media has been embraced by millions of people. Graphic Designers,Tech Geeks, Entreprenuers, Consultants, Marketing, Public Relations, and Business professionals and regular folks. But it still remains to be elusive and confusing to billions.

Facebook has 200 million users (would be considered the 5th largest country)
Twitter has 44.5 million users
Earth has 6.7 billion users

That is the paradox, the numbers. No matter how many people are on the internet. There are more people offline who are only learning about the internet. Why is that? The reason is the internet is still in the phase of early adopters.

You know the guy who always has the latest camera, iPhone or Blackberry, GPS enabled car, computer software program, gaming platform? We all know someone like that. He is an early adopter. He is keenly aware of the newest gadget coming out, and he must have it before everyone else. The internet is similar to a gadget. The internet is relatively young, therefore everyone who has been a regular user of the internet is considered an early adopter.

Email started with early adopters, and now it is a common occurrence in everyones life, even if you don’t have a computer. You at least have an email for your friends, family or work can reach you. The internet is moving into its middle age, where everyone must have contact with it for at least one use. Even your grandmother. Whether it is banking, or filing your income taxes.

But like email, the internet and social media are not a “fad” and it isn’t going anywhere. In fact, it is continually growing. For any business today this is the time of initiation, programming the pattern of your customers behavior that fosters a connection. Having your customers connected to you through the internet on a regular basis is loyalty.Loyalty is what community, networking and social media is built on.

That is what the millions of people, early adopters, are discovering. Being engaged on a daily basis with the products, services and communities they choose to be a part of. No longer are marketing efforts outbound, or pushed from the company. Rather the content is created, and loyalty built by the inbound customer, the connection is pulled back to the company.

As a marketer this is unheard of. The traditional marketing mix is predicated on pushing the message outbound to our customers. The process of creating a platform for social media that allows customers to interact, request, engage and ultimately share your information with their friends changes everything marketers have been taught.

You wonder why you need to be on the internet? Why should you create a Social Media strategy? Because your customers are there. Now what are you doing that allows them to reach out to you?